Housing Department Complaints
Dear Sir or Madam,
I have three separate FOI requests:
1) I am aware that complaints figures for the Housing Department as a whole are available in Paper No 08-513, the annual complaints report dated 18 June 2008. Please, however, provide a breakdown of complaints figures for 06/07 and 07/08 separated into the four housing area teams (i.e. Central, Eastern, Southern and Western).
2) During the past 12 months, how many complaints have been received with regard to the loss, by a member of the Eastern Area Team, of letters or documents sent to them by a borough resident?
3) Please provide a copy of the guidance notes issued to Housing Department staff as regards “what constitutes a complaint” referred to on p5, Paper No 08-513.
Yours faithfully,
T. Howard
Freedom of Information Act request - 2009/2265 - Housing Complaints
Thank you for your request for information received on 05/03/2009.
This will be processed in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act
2000.
Regards
Corporate Information Management Team
[Wandsworth Council request email]
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References
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1. http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/
Link: [1]File-List
Freedom of Information Act request - 2009/2265 - Housing Complaints
I refer to your request for information relating to Housing complaints
received on 5^th March 2009.
Please see the information provided by the Housing Department below:-
1. I am aware that complaints figures for the Housing Department as a
whole are available in Paper No 08-513, the annual complaints report dated
18 June 2008. Please, however, provide a breakdown of complaints figures
for 06/07 and 07/08 separated into the four housing area teams (i.e.
Central, Eastern, Southern and Western).
The complaints figures in paper No 08-513 are for the Housing Department
as a whole, as requested please see table below for the level one
complaints for the area teams only.
Area Year
06/07 07/08
Western 57 33
Central 59 45
Eastern 44 55
Southern 49 39
2. During the past 12 months, how many complaints have been received
with regard to the loss, by a member of the Eastern Area Team, of letters
or documents sent to them by a borough resident?
The information requested is not recorded by the Housing Department. In
order to provide the information it would be necessary to interrogate the
database for a listing of Eastern Area Team complaints received within the
past year (to obtain names and addresses), locate each individual
complaint within the relevant tenancy/leaseholder file and then review the
complaint to identify which relate to the loss of letters or documents.
As such it will take in excess of 18 hours to identify, locate and
retrieve the information. In accordance with the provisions defined under
section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 we are unable to provide
the number of complaints received regarding the loss (by a member of the
Eastern Area Team) of documentations sent to them by Borough residents, as
the process of identifying, locating, retrieving and, where appropriate,
extracting the information would significantly exceed the appropriate
limit as defined by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection
(Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
3. Please provide a copy of the guidance notes issued to Housing
Department staff as regards “what constitutes a complaint” referred to on
p5, Paper No 08-513.
Please see the attached pdf document “Complaints Recording”
I hope this information meets your needs. If you have any further queries
please do not hesitate to contact me
If you are dissatisfied with the decisions made or information provided in
relation to your request you may make representations to the Chief
Executive. Correspondence should be addressed to: -
Room 162
Wandsworth Town Hall
Wandsworth High Street
London
SW18 2PU
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: -
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Kirsten Hawkins
Senior Information Management Officer
Wandsworth Council
Dear Ms Hawkins,
1) Paper 08-513 states that the total number of complaints received by the Housing Department in 2007-2008 was 819. Of these, 661 related to service delivery failure, including 492 relating to staff error (461) and staff attitude (31).
The figures you have provided for 2007-2008 complaints separated by area team total 172 for all four teams. I do not understand how your figures relate to the number of total complaints and they are meaningless without any further information or context. Obviously, the same applies to the 2006-2007 figures.
I appreciate that complaints related to say, policy, are not ‘team specific’, however, I would expect that the majority of the 492 staff error/attitude complaints would relate to the actions of an individual or small group of individuals. Please, therefore, clarify the figures provided for the area teams in the context of the Housing Department as a whole.
Please also provide details of the number of staff members in each of the area teams, the number of staff members in non-area team sections of the Housing Department and the names of these sections, and the total number of staff in the Housing Department. If you have a diagram showing the structure of the Housing Department please provide me with a copy.
2) Okay. No further questions.
3) Thank you.
I look forward to hearing from you with regard to Q. 1).
Yours sincerely,
T. Howard
Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]Edit-Time-Data
Freedom of Information Request Reference 2009/2265
I refer to your email received on 17^th March 2009 in which you requested
clarification and additional information further to the Council’s response
to your request for information relating to Housing complaints.
Please see the information provided below: -
1. Please, therefore, clarify the figures provided for the area teams
in the context of the Housing Department as a whole.
The link below is to the Housing Department complaints report, which shows
the complaints numbers broken down by all sections within the Housing
Department.
[3]http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/moderngov/P...
Please note that there is an error in the report appendices 1 and 2 in
terms of the number of complaints received. The report states 818
complaints were received in 2007/08, the figure is actually 819. The
correct section breakdown is as follows: -
HOUSING DEPARTMENT
COMPLAINTS RECEIVED BY THE DIRECTOR OF HOUSING FOR 2006/07 AND 2007/08
TABLE D2: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BY COMPLAINT LADDER LEVEL
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Section Sub Divisional Sub Dept Total
Total Total
2006/07 2007/08 2006/07 2007/08 2006/07 2007/08 2006/07 2007/08 2006/07 2007/08 2006/07 2007/08
DEPARTMENTAL
SUPPORT SERVICES
IT and Support
Services 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
STRATEGY AND
RESOURCES
Strategy and
Development 3 6 0 0 0 0 3 6
Housing Advice
Centre/ Homeless
Persons Unit 22 24 5 3 0 4 27 31 64 62
Lettings 27 19 5 4 2 2 34 25
HOUSING
MANAGEMENT 2,065 819
Area Teams 209 172 25 26 11 17 245 215
Leasehold and
Procurement
Services/Major
Works 3 1 1 1 0 2 4 4
Warden Services 19 7 1 0 0 0 20 7 407 319
Estate Services 84 52 5 16 0 5 89 73
Support Services 6 11 0 2 0 1 6 14
RMOs and Coops 43 6 0 0 0 0 43 6
Level Subtotal 416 298 42 52 13 31 471 381 471 381
Contractor
Complaints 1,594 438 0 0 0 0 1594 438 1,594 438
Grand Total 2,010 736 42 52 13 31
Please also provide: -
▪ details of the number of staff members in each of the area teams
Central Area Team 20
Southern Area Team 21
Western Area Team 19
Eastern Area Team 22
▪ the number of staff members in non-area team sections of the Housing
Department and the names of these sections
Head of Services 9
IT and Support Services 29
Estate Services 72
Warden Services 47
Lettings 29
Homeless Persons Unit 51
Housing Advice Centre 15
Strategy and Development 14
Support Services 26
Leasehold and Procurement 15
Major Works 16
Housing trainees 5
▪ the total number of staff in the Housing Department = 410
▪ If you have a diagram showing the structure of the Housing Department
please provide me with a copy.
I hope that this information is of assistance, if you have any further
queries please do not hesitate to contact me
If you are dissatisfied with the decisions made or information provided in
relation to your request you may make representations to the Chief
Executive. Correspondence should be addressed to:
Room 162
Wandsworth Town Hall
Wandsworth High Street
London
SW18 2PU
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Kirsten Hawkins
Senior Information Management Officer
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